The Economic Daily News in Taiwan quoted unnamed supply chain sources as saying that Apple had acquired parts for its 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6 handset, coming this August.

Apple is expected to release a 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6 and aloong with a 5.5 or 5.6-inch screen version.

The newspaper reported that Apple has acquired parts from various Taiwanese suppliers such as wafer maker Visual Photonics Epitaxy and Largan Precision, a maker of lenses used in mobile phones, for its handset.

Contract makers including Foxconn and Pegatron have also been notified by Apple to start their assembly lines for the new handsets likely around late June, said the national newspaper.

Apple was expected to roll out the 4.7-inch screen version of the new model in September, but it decided to offer it a month earlier, as it faces the perssure by the launch of bigger-screen phones from rivals Samsung and HTC, the report added.

But Apple will also launch its high-end variant of the iPhone 6 in September.

The company released its current iPhone 5 in September 2012 and newer versions in the series last year.

The world's biggest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has reportedly started producing chips for the next iPhone in February.

The companies named in the Economic Daily News report did not provide any comment.